Today In The Past
Events
1163 – Hurricane hits villages in Holland/Friesland, causing floods
1561 – Archbishop Granvelle installed
1582 – Flanders adopts Gregorian calendar, tomorrow is Jan 1 1583
1598 – Battle of Curalaba: The revolting Mapuche, led by cacique Pelentaru, inflict a major defeat on Spanish troops in southern Chile; all Spanish cities south of the Biobio river are eventually taken by the Mapuches, and all conquest of Mapuche territories by Europeans practically ceases, until the 1870s “Pacification of Araucania”.
1620 – 103 Mayflower pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock [OS=Dec 11]
1688 – Pro-James II-earl of Devonshire occupies Nottingham
1784 – John Jay becomes 1st US secretary of state (foreign affairs)
1829 – 1st stone arch railroad bridge in US dedicated, Baltimore
1844 – The Rochdale Pioneers commence business at their cooperative in Rochdale, England, starting the Cooperative movement.
1849 – 1st US skating club formed (Phila)
1864 – General Sherman conquers Savannah, Georgia
1866 – Cheyennes, Arapho’s, Sioux, Fetterman Massacre
1898 – Scientists Pierre & Marie Curie discovers radium
1909 – U of Coopenhagen rejects Cook’s claim that he was 1st to North Pole
1910 – Explosion in coal mine in Hulton England, 344 mine workers dies
1914 – “Tillie’s Punctured Romance,” 1st six-reel feature comedy debuts
1914 – 1st feature-length silent film comedy, “Tillie’s Punctured Romance” released. (Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand & Charles Chaplin)
1915 – 10.17″ (25.83 cm) of rainfall, Glenora, Oregon (state record)
1919 – J Edgar Hoover deports anarchists/feminist Emma Goldman to Russia
1921 – Supreme Court rules labor injunctions & picketing unconstitutional
1929 – 1st group hospital insurance plan offered (Dallas Tx)
1932 – Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers, 1st joint movie (Flying Down to Rio)
1933 – Dried human blood serum 1st prepared, Univ of Pennsylvania
1941 – Chicago Bears Ray McLean makes last NFL drop kick for an extra point
1941 – German submarine U-567 sinks
1942 – US Supreme court declares Nevada separation legal
1946 – Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life,” premieres
1948 – State of Eire (formerly Irish Free State) declares its independence
1951 – Joe DiMaggio announces his retirement
1954 – Dr Sam Sheppard’s wife Marilyn is murdered (he is accused of crime)
1958 – Charles De Gaulle wins 7 year term as 1st pres of 5th Rep of France
1959 – 10th largest snowfall in NYC history (13.7″)
1959 – Tom Landry accepts coaching job with Dallas Cowboys (stays until 1988)
1962 – US & Cuba accord, releases bay of pigs captive
1966 – USSR launches Luna 13; soft-landed in Oceanus Procellarum
1968 – Apollo 8 (Borman, Lovell & Anders) 1st manned Moon voyage
1968 – David Crosby, Stephen Stills & Graham Nash premiere together in Calif
1969 – Diana Ross final TV appearance as a Supreme (Ed Sullivan Show)
1969 – Vince Lombardi (Redskins) coaches his last football game, losing
1975 – 1st NY Jet to gain 1,000 yards rushing (John Riggins)
1976 – UN General Assembly passes a resolution declaring 1979-Year of Child
1978 – Police in Des Plaines Ill, arrest John Wayne Gacy Jr for murder
1980 – Harold Carmichael ends NFL streak of 127 consecutive game receptions
1984 – USSR launches Vega 2 for fly-by of Halley’s Come
1985 – ARCO Anchorage runs aground near Port Angeles, WA
1987 – Soyuz TM-4 launches 3 cosmonauts to space station Mir
1988 – Drexel agrees guilt to security felonies, pays a $650 million fine
1988 – Pan AM Flight 103 was destroyed by a bomb killing 243 passengers and 16 crew (also known as the Lockerbie bombing)
1991 – 95 share in Madrid Spain $1.3 billion lottery (#47996)
1991 – El Sayid Nosair acquitted of killing Meir Kahane
1991 – Soviet Union formally dissolves 11 of 12 republics sign treaty forming Commonwealth of Independent States
1992 – Dutch DC-10 in fire at landing on Faro Portugal, 56 die
1994 – Bomb goes off on #4 train on Fulton Street NYC
1995 – Martina Ertl of Germany wins her 3rd giant slalom world cup
1995 – The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control.
1997 – Detroit Lions Barry Sanders is 3rd to run for 2,000 yards in a season
1999 – The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts a van loaded with 950 kg of explosives that ETA intended to use to blow up Torre Picasso in Madrid.
Births
1117 – Thomas Becket, Cheapside, London, archbishop of Canterbury (1162-1170), (d. 1170)
1401 – Tommaso Masaccio, Italian painter (d. 1428)
1518 – Mark van Vaernewijck, Flemish nobleman/politician
1537 – Johan III, king of Sweden (1569-92)
1603 – Roger Williams, English theologian and colonist (d. 1684)
1714 – John Bradstreet, Canadian-born soldier (d. 1774)
1795 – Leopold von Ranke, German historian (d. 1886)
1800 – Barnwell Rhett Robert, (Confederacy), died in 1876
1804 – Benjamin Disraeli, (Tory) British PM (1868, 1874-80)
1805 – Thomas Graham, British chemist and father of colloid chemistry (d. 1869)
1818 – Lewis H Morgan, US, etnologist (Systems of Consanguinity)
1823 – Jean Henri Fabre, France, entomologist (insects & spiders)
1832 – John Henry Ketcham, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1906
1843 – Thomas Bracken, Irish-born New Zealand poet (d. 1898)
1860 – Henrietta Szold, founder (Hadassah)
1872 – Albert P Terhune, US, novelist (Lad, a Dog)
1878 – Jan Łukasiewicz, Polish philosopher and mathematician (d. 1956)
1879 – Theodore Limperg, business economist (substitute value)
1886 – Hermann A J Kees, German Egyptologist (Problems of Egyptology)
1889 – Sewall Wright, American biologist (d. 1988)
1890 – Fred M Vinson, US Supreme Court Justice (1946-53)
1890 – Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist and Nobel laureate (d. 1967)
1892 – Rebecca West, [Cicily I F Andrews], Engl author (Meaning of Treason)
1892 – Walter Hagen, Rochester NY, PGA golfer (US Open 1914, 19)
1898 – Ira S Bowen, US physicist/astronomer (Mt Wilson/Palomar)
1911 – Josh Gibson, pro baseball player, “Negro Babe Ruth” (hit 800+ HRs)
1915 – Werner von Trapp, member of the Trapp Family Singers (d. 2007)
1917 – Alicia Alonso, Havana Cuba, ballerina (American Ballet Theatre)
1918 – Kurt Waldheim, Nazi/4th UN Sec-Gen (1972-81)/Austrian pres (1986-92)
1919 – Gert Fredriksson, Sweden, 1K kayak (Olympic-gold-1948, 52, 56)
1920 – Bob Bindig, American cartoonist (d. 2006)
1922 – Paul Winchell, NYC, ventriloquist (Jerry Mahoney, Knucklehead Smith)
1924 – Joe Paterno, football coach (Penn State, SI Sportsman of 1986)
1924 – Rita Reys, [Maria Reijs], Dutch jazz singer
1935 – Phil Donahue, Cleve Ohio, talk show host (Phil Donahue Show)
1935 – Lorenzo Bandini, Italian racecar driver (d. 1967)
1940 – Frank Zappa, Baltimore, rocker (Mothers of Invention, Catholic Girls)(see UE Deaths 12/04)
1942 – Carla Thomas, US singer (Let Me Be Good to You)
All I Want For Christmas Is You
I’LL NEVER STOP LOVING YOU BABY
1942 – Hu Jintao, Chinese president
1943 – Albert Lee, country , blues & rockabilly guitarist
One Way Rider with Vince Gill & Danny Gatton
I Got a Woman with Chet Atkins & James Burton
Let It Be Me with Alexandra Lee
1945 – Millie Hughes-Fulford, Wells Tx, astronaut (STS 40)
1946 – Carl Dean Wilson, Hawthorne California, rock vocalist (Beach Boys-Barbie)
1947 – Paco de Lucía, Spanish guitarist , musician
Mediterranean Sundance with Al DiMeola & John McLaughlin
1948 – Dave Kingman, baseball player (Mets, Yanks, Giants)
1948 – Samuel L Jackson, Washington DC, actor (Amos & Andrew, White Sand, Pulp Fiction)
1952 – Dennis Boutsikaris, Newark NJ, actor (Batteries Not Included)
1952 – Steve Furniss, US swimmer (Olympics-bronze-1972)
1953 – Andras Schiff, Budapest Hungary, pianist (Tchaikovsky-1974)
1953 – Arie Luyendyk, Netherlands, Indy-car racer (1990 Indianapolis 500)
1953 – Betty Wright, US gospel/singer/TV hostess (Little Miss Broadway)
1953 – Tina Brown, journalist (New Yorker)
1954 – Chris Evert Lloyd Mills, Fort Lauderdale, tennis pro ‘Miss pokerface’
1956 – Kevin Burnham, Hollis NY, 470 yachter (Olympics-8th-1992, 96)
1956 – Lee Roy Parnell, Abilene Texas, country singer (Oughta be a Law)
1957 – Joshua Mostel, NYC, actor (Delta House, At Ease)
1957 – Ray Romano, Queens NY, actor (Ray Barone-Everybody Loves Raymond)
1959 – Florence Griffith Joyner, LA California, runner (Olympic-3 gold-1988)
1960 – Michael Swain, Elizabeth NJ, judoka (Olympics-bronze-88)
1960 – Roger McDowell, Cincinnati OH, pitcher (NY Mets, Balt Orioles)
1965 – Andy Dick, Charleston SC, actor (Matthew-Newsradio)
1968 – Khrystyne Haje, Santa Clara, Cal, actress (Simone-Head of the Class)
1969 – Julie Delpy, actress (Before Sunrise)
1971 – Irena Slavutskay, Israel, athlete (Oly-1996)
1971 – Fenton Keogh, Australian celebrity chef
1974 – Karrie Webb, Ayr Queensland Aus, LPGA golfer (1994 Aust Strokeplay)
1975 – Paloma Herrera, Argentine ballet dancer
1976 – Mirela Manjani, Greek javelin thrower
1978 – Amber Corwin, Harbor City Ca, figure skater (1997 National Sr – 5th)
1979 – Tuva Novotny, Swedish actress and singer
1982 – Erica Hayden, American journalist and radio personality
1982 – Iljo Keisse, Belgian cyclist
1985 – James Stewart Jr., American motorcycle racer
Deaths
72 – Thomas the Apostle
918 – Conrad I, Duke of Franconia/German King (911-918), dies
1295 – Marguerite Berenger of Provence, wife of Louis IX of France (bc. 1221)
1308 – Henry I, the Child, 1st landgrave of Hessen (1256-1308), dies at 64
1549 – Marguerite of Navarre, wife of Henry II of Navarre (b. 1492)
1674 – Rutger van Haersolte, viceroy of Overijsselse, dies at about 66
1736 – Alessandro Galilei, Italian architect (Cappella Corsini), dies at 45
1824 – James Parkinson, English physician, geologist, paleontologist, and political activist (b. 1755)
1873 – Francis Garnier, French explorer (b. 1839)
1889 – Friedrich August von Quenstedt, German geologist (b. 1809)
1900 – Roger Wolcott, American political figure, 39th Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1847)
1907 – Oskar Lassar, German dermatologist (public baths), dies at 58
1933 – Knud J V Rasmussen, Danish Pole explorer (Thule), dies at 54
1937 – Frank Kellogg, US Secretary of State and Nobel laureate, dies at 80
1940 – F Scott Fitzgerald, author (Zelda), dies of a heart attack at 44
1942 – Leendert Round, sculptor (Giraffen, Blijdorp), dies at 63
1945 – George S Patton, US General (Sicily/Normandy), dies in car crash at 60
1948 – Seishiro Itagaki, Japanese General/min of War, hanged
1959 – Rosanjin, Japanese calligrapher, restaurateur and ceramicist (b. 1883)
1967 – Louis Washkansky, 18 days after 1st heart transplant, dies at 55
1974 – Richard Long, actor (Nanny & Professor), dies at 47
1974 – James Henry Govier, British artist (b. 1910)
1988 – Bob Steele, [Robert Bradbury], dies after short illness at 60
1988 – Nicholas Tinbergen, Dutch/British biologist, dies at 81
1990 – Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, American aeronautical engineer (Lockheed Skunk Works; b. 1910)
1992 – Albert King, US blues singer/guitarist (Crosscut Saw), dies at 71
DON’T YOU LIE TO ME with Stevie Ray Vaughan
1992 – Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian/US violist (Beethoven, Bach), dies at 87
1993 – Philip Christison, British general (Rangoon), dies at 100
1995 – Trenchard Cox, museum director, dies at 90
1996 – Margaret E Rey, author of children’s books, dies at 90
1997 – Michael Lyne, air-marshal, dies at 78
1998 – Ernst Gunther Schenck, German doctor who joined the Sturmabteilung in 1933 {b. 1904)
2001 – Dick Schaap, American sports journalist (b. 1934)
2003 – Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Spanish playboy and businessman (b. 1924)
2004 – Autar Singh Paintal, Indian medical scientist (b. 1925)
2007 – Ken Hendricks, American businessman (b. 1941)
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